


Wanted

by olddarkmachine



Series: 12 Days of ODM [4]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, F/M, Hilarity ensures, gajeel is a fugitive with a really high bounty on his head, he's also really really hot, levy is a great bounty hunter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-13 23:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12995067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olddarkmachine/pseuds/olddarkmachine
Summary: Gajeel Redfox.The name was a curse in her thoughts as the loud squelching taunted her every step. This was his fault. If it wasn’t for him, and that enticing reward he managed to get placed on his head, she wouldn’t be out here, ankle deep in what could only be described as a swamp. When she found him…Well, she didn’t quite know what she would do when she found him, but she knew it would end with him, knocked out, and her, with a very padded bank account.Five million jewels worth of padding, in fact.





	Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to: [@smartcookie727](smartcookie727.tumblr.com)
> 
> Prompt: Levy is a bounty hunter, and Gajeel is her next target.

Mud. There just had to be mud.

 

Levy growled as she pulled against the suction of the thick sludge, praying for the lost souls of her brand new boots. Not that she hadn’t known they’d eventually get ruined, bought for the sole purpose of traipsing through forests during her jobs, but she had been hoping to at least get a couple hours out of them. 

 

_Gajeel Redfox._

 

The name was a curse in her thoughts as the loud squelching taunted her every step. This was his fault. If it wasn’t for him, and that enticing reward he managed to get placed on his head, she wouldn’t be out here, ankle deep in what could only be described as a swamp. When she found him...

 

Well, she didn’t quite know what she would do when she found him, but she knew it would end with him, knocked out, and her, with a very padded bank account.

 

Five million jewels worth of padding, in fact. 

 

_Are you sure you aren’t reading that wrong_ , she’d drawled, certain she’d misheard Makarov when he read the listing for the known thief. _There are missions that don’t even have a rewards that high_.

 

Makarov had laughed that laughed that meant his bounty hunters were going to be very, very happy. It sounded a lot like the clanging of gold and jewels.

 

_If you piss off enough rich people, you get a big price tag. And he has pissed off a lot of rich people. Question is, do you think it’s worth it?_

 

The answer? _Yes_. _Yes she did_. 

 

At least, she thought she did. Another loud wet sound made her cringe, pulling her from her thoughts as she continued to pick her way through the rain soaked forest. Levy could only imagine how she looked, pulling each begrudging step from the muck and mire of the forestry, wet leaves clinging to her hair, rucksack hanging off one shoulder and grey mud stuck over the leather of her boots. There had been multiple incidences during her hunting that she’d been mistaken for a child lost in the woods in need of saving, warm food and a bath. The first, she abhorred. The latter two, she would gladly take right now.

 

Levy knew what people thought about her when they finally met the renowned bounty hunter. Their reactions were always the same. 

 

First, there was laughter. The kind of snorting laughter that produced tears.

 

Second, there was denial. _Like I’m supposed to believe someone-- a girl-- so small could be the Great Blue Bounty Hunter._

 

Third, there was pain. Theirs, usually, when she showed them exactly how she’d managed to make herself the best bounty hunter Fiore had ever known. 

 

The sharp sound of metal against metal broke her free of her thoughts as she stumbled over a root hidden by the mud. Eyes searching for the source of the sound, they finally found the culprit. Standing shirtless in a clearing obviously set up to be a camp, stood the man she was looking for.

 

Black Steel Gajeel.

 

The fugitive was sifting through a bag of what she could only assume was filled with gold and jewels from his latest heist, pulling out pieces to test between his teeth before he threw them back into the bag. Each piece tossed back gave a soft clink. She watched as he furtively pushed through the bag before starting to rifle through the rest. 

 

With him standing before her, she couldn’t help but notice that the wanted poster had done him any justice. He was stupidly attractive. The kind of attractive that was accentuated by sharp lines, pointed teeth and muscles that went for days. And days.

 

And days.

 

Levy had to snap her mouth shut as she attempted to count the number of abs that ran down his torso. From where she stood, partially hidden behind the bark of an ancient oak tree, she could see the way the muscle rippled beneath tanned skin. In that moment he was the cover to every romance novel she’d ever loved. 

 

_Captive Rose. Love Rogue. A Pirate’s Treasure. Dark Whispers._

 

He was each and every one of them, brought to life before her in the middle of a mud filled forest with five million jewels hanging over his head. Somewhere, fate was laughing at her. As if to further prove that her life was a cosmic joke, a breeze blew his black hair back and a single beam of moonlight sliced through an opening in the leaves above. 

 

It was, for lack of a better term, dismaying.

 

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you that staring was rude?” A voice filled with dark chocolate and gravel cut through her thoughts and landed her back in the middle of the muck. Her heart leapt into her throat, using her tonsil as a punching bag, and nearly gagging her. Gajeel’s crimson eyes sparkled with the light of his fire, the dancing flames casting a glow over his face that only emphasized the sculpted line of his nose and the perfect bow of his lips. His face was devastating, a blow straight to her very core as her insides started to burn like the blaze beside him. In a panic, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

 

“Solid Script: Bind!”

 

With a sharp exclamation, Gajeel was pushed backwards, landing onto the ground with a huff as the words wrapped themselves around him like rope, binding together so that he couldn’t move. 

 

“What the hell?” He growled as he shuffled against the rope-like binding, succeeding only in reddening the skin across his chest and grinding his ass further into the mud beneath him.

 

“Gajeel Redfox, you are now under my custody,” she called as she stepped out from behind the tree, swallowing the sour nerves that coated her tongue. _Not nerves_ , she chided herself as she forced herself to stand a little bit taller. _The Great Blue Bounty Hunter doesn’t get nerves._ As she stepped out from the shadows, his eyes narrowed, dragging slowly over her body as he sized her up. The right corner of his mouth pulled upwards into a cocky smirk as his gaze snapped back to her own.

 

“Under normal circumstances, I don’t think I’d mind being tied up by you, Shorty,” he drawled, arching a studded brow and swiping his tongue across his bottom lip. It caused her heart to flip annoyingly in her chest as she watched the triangle of pink draw a slick line over his skin. 

 

“Very funny,” she laughed drily as she continued to make her way towards him, trying her best to smoothly wipe the sweat from her palms against the black fabric of her pantsas she drew closer. Kneeling before him, she gave him what she hoped was a stern look.

 

“I’m going to search you for weapons now. Don’t do anything that you’ll regret.” His face was filled with humor as he watched her draw closer, placing her hands at the top of his leg and feeling for any hidden weaponry he could use against her. The fire in her blood pinked her cheeks as she patted her hands down the length of his leg, attempting all the while to ignore the way his gaze was cutting straight through her sternum and locking onto the hunk of beating meat behind it. 

 

“Ya got a soft touch there, Blue,” Gajeel said, rolling the words off his tongue like honey. Somewhere in a very far corner of her mind, she imagined herself showing him just how soft her touch could be. It would be so easy to let her palms glide upwards, over the belt that kept his pants snug against his waist. Maybe she would let her fingers dance just over the seam of skin and leather, dipping them just below the band before pushing forward to place a kiss on that ridge of collarbone that taunted her so. Her golden eyes drew a molten line over the plains of his chest, stopping only once they met his ruby gaze. The breath stilled in her throat as she watched him start to lean forward, his movement slow and filled with intent. His eyes dropped down to her lips, sending a thrill down her spine as if he’d run his hands down the skin of her back. She could easily close the minuscule distance that stood between them.

 

Instead, she gave his thigh a wrenching pinch, not even trying to hide the smile that cracked her mouth wide as he jumped.

 

“Whoops,” she said, popping the ending like a bubble as she moved to Gajeel’s other leg. Levy continued to pat down the material, praying that the glow on her cheeks was masked by that of the fire. 

 

“So ya have a bit of bite.” She missed the way he leant back in towards her, too distracted by her task to notice the move until she felt the heat of his breath on her ear. “I like that.”

 

Levy didn’t squeak. She definitely did not push herself away from the warm caress on her earlobe, as a loud, high pitched sound ripped itself from the cage of her teeth as her ass landed with a soft squelch in the mud. It was more of a womanly yelp. 

 

And a graceful sitting.

 

Gajeel’s laugh was a loud bark that resonated through the night around them as he watched her face flit from shock, to disgust, to anger. 

 

“Solid Script: Gag!” Levy said, flicking her wrist with practice procession, allowing herself a moment to enjoy the way the word wrapped itself around his head and pushed itself between his teeth. A low rumble deep in his chest was his only response as his eyes turned to hard stones.

 

“Now, listen here, Black Steel,” she threw as much authority into her voice as she could muster, disregarding the slight tremor in her words. Placing a palm against the wet ground beneath her, she pushed herself up onto a knee, using the momentum to land a hard jab of a finger into his sternum. 

 

“I’m cold, my boots are ruined, I’m tired, I’m hungry and you’re worth enough money for me to not work half the year. If you think any of your tricks are going to get out of being dragged to the authorities, you are sorely mistaken. I’m not sure what women you’re used to, but let me confirm that I am not one of them.”

 

As if to further solidify her point, she jabbed her finger at him with the cadence of her final words. Metal shot upwards toward his hairline as he arched his eyebrow and his lips pulled back from the the word wrenched between his teeth. Something caught between a grimace and smirk, it was lit with the flickering light of the fire beside them. The next sound was a low, bubbling thing, that almost sounded like a purr. It was more disarming than anything he could have said, the soft thunder in his chest instantly deflating the annoyance that had bloated and twisted inside her rib cage. 

 

“So, yeah,” she finished, words fading as she spoke. “Just, just sit there while I make sure you aren’t armed.”

 

Silence fell over the camp, punctuated by the occasional crackle of the fire and their mingled breathing. It was an oppressive thing, near deafening with the hollowness of the lack of sound now that Gajeel had been silenced. Goosebumps raced up her arms as the quiet sent a thrill of unease over her skin. Gagging him had felt like the obvious solution to the problem that had been his voice. What if he made enough of a fuss to call attention to them? What if he wasn’t actually alone and he could call for help? Ignoring the fact the timbre had unleashed a cage of butterflies with rabies in her stomach each time he spoke, it had been what any other hunter would have done. 

 

Only now, as she dug her hands into the metal rimmed leather of his boots in search of the last open space he had on him to hide weaponry, did she realize it may have been a little excessive. As she looked up to catch his red stare, she blanched inwardly. 

 

Okay, maybe a lot excessive.

 

“Okay, maybe it was a bit much to hit you with a gag,” Levy said, raising two fingers as she spoke. “I’m going to take it away, but, no funny business. Okay?” Waiting for his curt nod, she tapped her fingers to the word settled between his lips, releasing it of its corporeal form. Gajeel’s teeth snapped a hairsbreadth from her fingers as the word disappeared. She watched the way he dragged his tongue over the dried skin of his lips before they turned upwards into a devil’s smile.

 

“Damn, Shortstack, I was hoping you were about to make things interesting with that gag,” he chuckled, his voice as dark as the shadows that danced amongst the forest around them. “How about we lose this binding too.” 

 

Though the suggestion was shrouded beneath a carefully placed mocking tone, Levy could see the way his eyes shifted with the same light as a trapped animal. Right now, he looked docile, but he was a wolf with his foot caught in a trap, and he’d do anything to break free.

 

“Wow, do you really think so little of my intelligence that I would undo that spell?” She bit out the words with enough sarcasm to turn them sour. That and those ropes were her only defense, and even then Gajeel was already working his way through one of those. Dropping his head slightly, he looked up at her through his lashes.

 

“What if I cut you deal?” 

 

Levy snorted at the absurd suggestion, not even bothering to reply.

 

“You undo the rope, and I promise to not only go wherever you want me to go,” he said. Intriguing, but not enough. As if sensing her curiosity, he went in for his deathblow. “And I’ll cook you some dinner.”

 

Then, just because space, time, and her own body had plotted against her, Levy’s stomach gave a long whine at the mere mention of food. A smug look settled over his features as he waited, already knowing that he had won. Growling angrily, she threw her arms over her head, gritting her teeth as she silently cursed at the sky.

 

“Fine,” she said sharply, throwing the full weight of her bitterness into her voice. “But if you try anything funny, know that I won’t hesitate to take you down.”

 

Gajeel waggled his eyebrows at her, opening his mouth to say something before quickly shutting it. _Good to see he has some restraint_ , Levy thought as she raised her hands. Taking a single, steadying breath, she released the word that had curled around his body and bit into his skin. Angry red marks stood out across his chest and arms, crisscrossing from where the rope-like word had chaffed and rubbed him raw. She watched him cautiously as he rolled his shoulders, experimenting with the movement before he raised his arms over his head, leaning each way and moaning slightly as she heard his tendons and bones pop. 

 

“I may still have to try something if it means I get to go down,” Gajeel laughed after a moment of silence, only laughing harder as Levy rolled her eyes and scoffed. Pushing herself off the ground, she kept her gaze locked onto his every movement as she moved to the other side of his camp, settling herself onto the log opposite where he sat. 

 

“Don’t make me regret this already, Black Steel.” She gestured towards the fire and made an impatient noise low in her throat. “Let’s see these cooking skills that won you your freedom.”

 

Fixing her with an inquisitive look, the gears spinning behind the ruby of his eyes, Gajeel let time stretch between them as he studied her. With a barely perceptible shrug, he rolled himself upwards and started to walk around the camp with all the ease of a jungle cat. Watching him the entire time, Levy observed as he gathered material from a bag, cutting and mincing vegetables and tossing them into a skillet that he set halfway into the fire. She watched closely as he threw herbs into the skillet, using a pronged fork to push the vegetables around.

 

After what felt like hours, he finally handed her a plate filled with the meal. Steam carried the mouth watering aroma of it up towards her nose as she set the wooden tray onto her lap.

 

“Sorry there isn’t meat, I was a bit too tied up to do any hunting,” Gajeel said, winking at her before he walked back to the other side of the fire and sat on the ground with his own food. Too hungry to retort, Levy started to shovel the food into her mouth, barely tasting it as she swallowed. It was graceless and normally she may have allowed herself to feel some sort of embarrassment. 

 

Sitting by a fire eating the meal her target had cooked wasn’t normal, though, so she let herself slide. After several minutes, and a second helping, she finally dropped her plate onto the log beside her and sighed loudly into the night, allowing herself to relax a little. She could feel Gajeel’s gaze dragging lines over her body as she stared up at the trees, reveling in the fullness in her belly and the forest fires raging over her skin from his stare. He was most likely plotting all the different ways he could make his escape while she was fully sated by that meal. Levy was in the middle of contemplating if she would care at that point when his words cut through the din of her thoughts.

 

“So what’s your story?” 

 

It was a simple question, one she’d heard more times than she’d cared to admit. She could read between the lines well enough.

 

_What’s a pretty, little thing like you doing in a job like this?_

 

The answer?

 

“Do I need one?” Levy asked, not bothering to look at her company as she spoke. “I like what I do. That’s all there really is. People expect a tragic backstory. Something that went wrong to drive me to become a bounty hunter. But I don’t. Grew up with a loving family, have a lot of friends, I’m not trying to make up for abandonment issues.”

 

She flipped her head forward, her blue hair creating a veil over half her face with the momentum. Shrugging as she pushed a hand through it, she continued.

 

“Saw a wanted poster in town one day, happened to come across the guy later on. Knew enough magic to get him incapacitated. Really liked the amount of money I got for a couple of hours and two small spells. The rest is history.”

 

All too often people assumed there was some catalyst as to why Levy did what she did. Most days she went with it, spinning tales of such tragedy that would lead her to living the life of a bounty hunter. They were so over-the-top that they were believable, for who would lie about such things? Sitting on that log, fire reflected back at her through the ruby of Gajeel’s eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to lie. 

 

Something told her he wouldn’t believe her even if she did.

 

Nodding as if he understood all too well, Gajeel just smiled, letting the conversation drop, only to pick up when Levy decided she wanted to continue it.

 

“What about you?” She said after a pause to pick her words carefully. Admittedly, it shouldn’t matter why he did what he did. The man had stolen for almost every member of the royal family, most barely getting away with their lives as the stories went. He was supposed to be a ruthless animal, so his story shouldn’t make any difference. 

 

That didn’t stop her curiosity from getting the better of her as those three small words fell from her tongue.

 

The line of of his shoulders tightened at her question, a small muscle in his jaw jumping as he bit down on his answer. As he picked through his tale, choosing the bits and pieces he deemed she was worthy to hear, Levy traced the lines of his body, returning the quizzical gaze she’d felt on her own skin just minutes before. He hadn’t bothered to put a shirt on, either uncaring if the company he kept saw the scars that turned his flesh into a map, or unaware of the way said company was studying them like a cartographer. 

 

Levy wondered if she followed the long, puckered line of white scar tissue that ran over his ribs, she’d find her way home.

 

“My people died because of them,” he said simply, voice bare of any further explanation or emotion. The them was implied to be all the royalty that had made up the long list of Black Steel victims. 

 

“An entire town, gone because of the people who were leading it bleeding them dry until there was nothing left.” Gajeel’s lips pulled over his teeth in a snarl as he stared into the fire, seeing something other than the flames that stood between them. 

 

“First they starved. Then they got sick. Every single one of them,” his voice faltered as his hands curled into fists over his knees. Levy’s heart stuttered as she saw the pain etch itself into the lines of his face, aging him slightly as he breathed heavily, eyes never once leaving the fire. _It shouldn’t matter, that doesn’t put him above the law_ , a small voice reminded her as her palms prickled, wanting nothing more than to reach out and console him. _It shouldn’t matter_.

 

_But it does_.

 

“I’m not going to lie and say it didn’t start as revenge. But I realized I could do some good. Help other towns so they don’t become like mine.” Gajeel’s bottom lip pulled into his mouth as he worried it between his teeth, lost in the vast sea of his own thoughts and memories. For just a moment, he looked lost. Fear, sadness, anger, it all swirled over his expression, twitching the corners of his mouth downward and furrowing his brows. The man that sat before her wasn’t fearsome, or even flirtatious as he had been earlier. Before her sat a man that had lost everything, and was fighting against all else to save just one person from losing it all too. Her heart banged itself wildly into her ribcage as the sharp burn of tears stung her eyes.

 

Then, almost as soon as the emotion had settled across his face, it was gone, the clouds in his stare clearing as he looked up to see Levy wipe away a single tear that had rolled its way down her cheek.

 

“Something wrong, Shrimp?” He asked, fixing her with a curious gaze from the other side of the fire. His tone was serious, as if he didn’t really know. Black Steel Gajeel, the most feared thief, targeting the rich during their travels and taking everything they had. The infamous man that had never been able to be taken down, not by royal guards, nor knights, nor mages. Gajeel, who was rumored to have have no heart and blood made of shadow and iron, stole to provide for the villages that had been forgotten by their leaders. Everything was wrong. Everything she’d been told, and thought, it had all been a fabrication made by the very rich that would sooner let their people starve than part with a handful of gold. Slowly shaking her head, she looked up through her long lashed, focusing on the dancing tendrils of flame instead of the crimson that stared through them.

 

“You let them all believe you’re nothing but a petty thief, stealing for your own gain. But you do so much,” her words started to wobble with her emotion. Biting down on her tongue, she breathed in through her nose in an attempt to steady herself. After a moment’s pause, she asked only one thing.

 

“Why?”

 

A cloud of confusion rolled over his features as he tilted his head, wordlessly asking for her to elaborate. 

 

“Why don’t you tell anyone you’re good?” She spoke around a stone that was burying itself deep into her throat. Her eyes never left him as he ruminated on her words, dragging a hand through his hair and looking upwards towards what little sky peeked from the openings in the leaves. It was as if he was trying to pull his answers from the handful of stars that sparkled amongst the branches. 

 

“‘s not why I do it, ya know?” Gajeel finally said, not bothering to return his gaze back to Levy as he spoke to the heavens. “I don’t want glory, or protection, and I don’t need any thanks. Just hate the guys that take their money and get fat while they starve, I guess.”

 

The reasoning was flat, his previous honesty hidden behind the gusto of thin bravado. It was too late to take it back, Levy had already seen past his defenses.

 

“Well, I think it’s very noble of you,” she said lowly. The statement earned her a sharpened smile that cut straight through her ribcage and landed just below her heart. 

 

“Ya really think so, Shrimp?” 

 

Levy more than thought so. She admired him. Wasn’t there a heroism in letting yourself be the villain in order to save everyone else? Gajeel was the antithesis of the people she was supposed to bring in. They were all supposed to be ne’er-do-wells and scoundrels. Vagrants and no good drifters. They were supposed to be like Levy, without a good cause. 

 

They weren’t supposed to be like Gajeel.

 

Without knowing how exactly to put that all into words, she settled for an easy nod. After a moment’s contemplation, his eyes reading her face for answers only he seemed to know to look for, he stood. Four long strides carried him over the expanse of ground that had separated them before he dropped himself down onto the log beside her. 

 

“Maybe I’m just saying that to get on your good side,” Gajeel winked, flashing her another unforgiving smile that played her heartstrings like a master violinist.

 

“I doubt you’d do anything to get on anyone’s good side,” she said, unable to look away from his shining eyes. Heat crept up her neck, painting her skin a faded shade of pink as it went.

 

“Maybe I want to get tied up again.” 

 

Levy rolled her eyes in an attempt to hide the way her pulse ricocheted within her at the suggestion.

 

“Very funny, Gajeel,” she said, swatting a hand at his arm. His name was a whole new language on her tongue, both foreign and familiar as her lips wrapped around it. If she was allowed, she’d keep saying it again and again just to memorize the way it fit between her teeth.

 

“I’m serious, Shorty,” he said, eyes sparkling. “You make a man consider getting caught.”

 

Lines of electricity started to snap and pop between them, their sharp touches raising goosebumps over Levy’s arms as her eyes dragged down to the fullness of his lips. They looked as if they’d taste of honey and nighttime. 

 

“Where were you planning to go next?” She heard herself say, her voice breathy as if the air had been stolen from her lungs. Gajeel’s arm bounced into her shoulder as he laughed.

 

“I said ‘consider.’ You think I’m going to tell you, now that I know you want my bounty?” His laughter died as he shook his head slowly, eyes still glinting as he stared at her. “I’m not sure, Blue. I just follow where the road takes me, ya know?”

 

Levy did know. It was one of her favorite parts of her job, even if it meant the end of her brand new shoes. 

 

“I think I do,” she smiled. As her words were carried away with the wind, another silence fell over the camp, only this time it was comfortable. It was the type of quiet that didn’t need to be filled with chatter. The kind that came with the complete ease of knowing someone. The feel of its warm weight on her shoulders only made what was left to say that much harder to say.

 

“You should get out of here,” she said lowly, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from saying what she really felt. _Maybe you should stay._ “I’ll tell them I couldn’t find you out here.”

 

Gajeel’s studded brow raised, full of questioning as he looked down at her.

 

“What about all that time off?”

 

“I think I’ll manage.” Looking away, she waved a hand towards the forest behind them. “Go. I’ll point who I can in the opposite direction.”

 

Knuckles brushed over the crest of her cheekbone, flipping so that Gajeel’s fingertips dragged upwards towards her hairline, his thumb stroking over her flushed skin as she turned back towards him. The air had grown denser, the thickness of it laying heavily in her lungs as his thumb continued to rake fire over her cheek. Slowly, as if drawn towards her by gravity, Gajeel leant in, his breath dancing over her hips before his own pressed against them. Lava filled her veins as she pushed into the contact, the shock of the touch pulling her lips apart and letting a small gasp escape. Swallowing the sound, he swiped his tongue across the back of her teeth. It was a single, solitary kiss. Not one written about in the stories Levy read, but enough to steal the breath from her lungs and shatter the earth around her. She would gladly let the ground swallow them whole if it meant she could relive that first kiss again, and again.

 

All too soon, he pulled away, knocking his forehead lightly against hers as his chest heaved.

 

“Thanks, Shrimp,” his whispered, his gratitude swiping a brush of warmth over her lips. Levy felt the small smile tug his mouth upwards before he pressed forward into another chaste kiss before he pulled away. Standing from where they sat, he grabbed the shirt that sat with his things and quickly pulled it over his head. Then he grabbed the bags, slinging them over his shoulder and filling the clearing with the sound of clinking gold as it hit the expanse of his back.

 

“Next time, I won’t be so kind,” Levy said, trying to mask the sadness that was tinging the edges of her words as she watched him start to walk towards the line of trees. Gajeel raised a hand in a small wave, throwing a smile over his shoulder.

 

“I look forward to it,” he said as he crossed over the threshold that marked the end of the clearing and the beginning of the forest.

 

Levy watched as the wild black of his hair melted into the inky shadows of the forest, the darkness swallowing him completely. A small smile tugged the corner of her mouth as she perched her elbow on her knee and dropped her chin into her open palm. If she kept staring into the darkened woods, she could almost pretend she still saw the fugitive with the bags of gold and jewels slung over his shoulders. 

 

She wondered if he knew that nestled within those treasures, was her heart.

********************

 

 

 


End file.
